Southern Sudan

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions his Department has had with the government of South Sudan on improving the economic independence of women and girls in South Sudan.

Alan Duncan: My Department has engaged the Government repeatedly on the issues that are critical to women's economic independence, including the oil crisis and its impact on vulnerable groups such as women and girls. Through our work we are seeking to address the significant barriers to women achieving their economic potential, including cultural attitudes, high levels of maternal mortality and low levels of female literacy. This includes ensuring more than 20,000 women have at least four antenatal visits, and supporting an additional 200,000 girls through school.

Rural Areas

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government is taking to help growth and competitiveness in rural farms and businesses.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA works across Government ensuring measures designed to support economic growth are having proportionate and positive impacts in rural areas.
	On 29 November 2011, the Government announced a strong package of new measures, designed to stimulate sustainable growth in the rural economy and help businesses reach their full potential. The results of this include the establishment of five Rural Growth Networks in 2012-13, and the targeting of £100 million of Rural Development Programme for England funding at meeting Rural Economy Growth Review priorities.
	Broadband connectivity is also vital for economic prosperity and the Government has invested £530 million to support the roll out of broadband across all rural areas. Through the £20 million Rural Community Broadband Fund, the Government is also providing grant support to enable communities (including businesses) to access superfast broadband in hard to reach locations. £150 million is also being invested in the UK to improve mobile phone coverage.

UN Conference on Sustainable Development

Thomas Docherty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with which of her ministerial colleagues she is preparing the UK's position for the Rio+20 conference.

Richard Benyon: holding answer 15 May 2012
	The UK's preparations for Rio+20 have been led by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman), working closely with Cabinet colleagues, in particular the Deputy Prime Minister, who will lead the UK delegation. This is a matter of the highest importance across Government and has therefore been of interest to many Ministers, including the Prime Minister.

Accountancy

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many staff in his Department had (a) a recognised accountancy qualification and (b) the Associate Chartered Accountant qualification in each of the last three years; and how many staff in his Department were working towards a recognised accountancy qualification in each such year.

Tim Loughton: The Department for Education does not currently record information on our qualified accountants and accountancy students in the format requested. We can provide information on how many staff we are aware of in the Department that held a recognised accountancy qualification as at 31 March 2012 and, of those how many held the Associate Chartered Accountant Qualification. We can also provide information on how many staff in the Department are currently working towards a recognised accountancy qualification under our Finance Bursary Scheme, but we are unable to provide any of this information for previous years.
	(a) Staff in the Department holding a recognised accountancy qualification as at 31 March 2012—36
	(b) Those holding the Associate Chartered Accountant qualification—7
	(c) Staff currently working towards a recognised accountancy qualification—21
	The number of staff holding a recognised accountancy qualification, and those holding the ACA qualification includes those working within the finance function in the Department, and also those qualified accountants who may be working elsewhere across the Department, but who have recorded their qualification with the Head of the Finance Profession in order that they may be included in CPD opportunities. There may be other qualified and ACA qualified accountants within the Department that we are unaware of.

Curriculum: Mathematics

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of state schools offered further mathematics A level in the last academic year for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: Information on subjects offered by schools is not held by the Department. However there were 1,209 maintained schools or colleges with entries in further mathematics A-level in 2010/11. This represents 58.2% of the 2,077 maintained schools and colleges who had entries for A-levels in 2010/11.

Curriculum: Outdoor Education

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the merits of introducing elements of outdoor education into the national curriculum.

Nick Gibb: The Government recognises the important contribution that outdoor education can make to engaging and supporting pupils in their education. However, we believe that schools are in the best position to decide how best to include outdoor education in fulfilling their responsibilities to provide a broad and balanced curriculum. Our current review will refocus the National Curriculum on core knowledge in key subjects, while allowing schools greater freedom to design and teach a wider school curriculum that best meets the needs of their pupils.

Community Interest Companies: Greater London

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many community interest companies were registered in (a) the London borough of Bexley and (b) London in the latest period for which figures are available.

Norman Lamb: In the latest period for which figures are available there is one Community Interest Company shown as registered in the London borough of Bexley and there are 1,013 Community Interest Companies registered in London. This information will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
	However, these figures are not definitive as Companies House's data is extracted primarily from post code areas, which can cross county boundaries.

Community Interest Companies: Sussex

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will place in the Library a list of the community interest companies registered in (a) Mid Sussex and (b) West Sussex.

Norman Lamb: A list of the 50 Community Interest Companies (CICS) registered in West Sussex will be placed in the Libraries of the House. Companies House's records do not show any CICS being registered in Mid Sussex. However, these figures are not definitive as Companies House's data is extracted primarily from post code areas, which can cross county boundaries.

Credit

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to ensure that oversight of consumer credit is maintained during the proposed transition to the Financial Conduct Authority; and what steps he is taking to ensure that unscrupulous lenders or debt management providers cannot profit from the changes.

Norman Lamb: The Government is committed to ensuring the continued effectiveness of consumer credit regulation during the transition to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The Office of Fair Trading remains responsible for regulating consumer credit during the transition and it will continue its important work to tackle those practices that cause harm to consumers and to drive up standards in the market. This work includes the recently published revised guidance on the standards it expects from firms offering debt advice or credit repair services to debtors and the review of payday lenders' compliance with its Irresponsible Lending Guidance.

Overseas Trade

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the survey by the British Chambers of Commerce entitled Exporting is Good for Britain: Social Connections, what steps his Department plans to take to encourage collaboration and networking of UK businesses with international partners.

Mark Prisk: UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is the Government Department that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy and assists overseas companies to bring their high quality investment to the UK.
	The economic rationale for UKTI services includes acting as an intermediary in identifying international partners for UK businesses. Therefore, its activities, services, help and advice, both in the UK and overseas, are geared towards helping UK companies to collaborate and network with international partners.
	UKTI has a major role to play in helping to deliver the Government's ambition to get 100,000 more UK businesses exporting, and to increase to £1 trillion the value of UK exports by 2020. But UKTI cannot deliver its contribution to this objective alone, and therefore is working with a range of delivery partners and other private sector organisations, including the British Chambers of Commerce, to reach out to many more businesses in the UK.
	Details of what more UKTI is planning to do are set out in its strategy “Britain Open for Business”, which was launched in May 2011. The UKTI website gives further information on UKTI services and its strategy:
	www.ukti.gov.uk

Government Departments: Databases

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether the G-Cloud service will be comparable in terms of (a) security and (b) availability to the services it will replace.

Francis Maude: The G-Cloud programme will not be replacing any services as it is not a single, government owned, entity.

Non-departmental Public Bodies

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what his policy is on the (a) public funding and (b) accountability of a non-departmental body which is reconstituted as a committee of experts under his Department's reforms.

Francis Maude: Reforms which reconstitute NDPBs as committees of experts, are not primarily motivated by a need to make savings but by a desire to make ministers more accountable for decision making.
	Committees of experts typically do not employ staff and do not have independent budgets.

Alcoholic Drinks: Young People

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people of each age under the age of sixteen have been treated for alcohol related health problems in each of the last five years.

Anne Milton: The information is not available in the format requested.
	The information on numbers of admissions to hospital for alcohol-related illnesses for young people under 16 is in the following table. (See conditions included in the notes.)
	This does not include treatments in the community for such illnesses, for which information is not collected centrally.
	This also does not include numbers In specialist treatment for alcohol misuse or other substance misuse. Table 4.2 of the National Treatment Agency annual report “Statistics from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS), Statistics relating to young people” December 2011, provides national figures (2005-06 to 2010-11) for under 18s treated primarily for an alcohol problem, but this information is not available broken down by age.
	A copy of the “Statistics from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS), Statistics relating to young people” December 2011 has been placed in the Library and is available at:
	www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/ypannualreport-statistical reportfinal.pdf
	
		
			 Count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) (1)  with a primary diagnosis of an alcohol related illness (2)  or a cause code of alcohol (3)  for people aged 16 and under for the years 2006-07 to 2010-11 (4) 
			 Activity in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			 Age 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 0 7 3 6 4 6 
			 1 26 24 29 25 15 
			 2 25 21 21 30 18 
			 3 15 18 11 5 7 
			 4 4 3 6 5 5 
			 5 12 6 2 5 3 
			 6 7 7 1 — 1 
			 7 5 8 6 1 3 
			 8 3 9 7 5 4 
			 9 15 12 13 7 2 
			 10 20 22 14 18 13 
			 11 68 41 51 31 32 
			 12 239 239 145 161 114 
			 13 679 628 480 481 378 
			 14 1,255 1,112 914 928 704 
		
	
	
		
			 15 1,342 1,190 977 973 773 
			 (1) Finished admissions episodes A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. (2) Primary diagnosis The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. ICD-10 Codes used: E24.4—Alcohol-induced pseudo-Cushing's syndrome F10—Mental and behavioural disorders due to the use of alcohol G31.2—Degradation of nervous system due to alcohol G62.1—Alcoholic polyneuropathy G72.1—Alcoholic myopathy I42.6—Alcoholic cardiomyopathy K29.2—Alcoholic gastritis K70—Alcoholic liver disease K86.0—Alcohol-induced chronic pancreatitis T51—Toxic effect of alcohol (3) Cause code A supplementary code that indicates the nature of any external cause of injury, poisoning or other adverse effects. Only the first external cause code which is coded within the episode is counted in HES. ICD-10 Codes used: X45—Accidental poisoning by and exposure to alcohol X65—Intentional self-poisoning by and exposure to alcohol (4) Assessing growth through time HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data, quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in out-patient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Z50.2—Alcohol rehabilitation Z72.1—Problems related to lifestyle, Alcohol use Data quality: HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts in England and from some independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Drinks

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his private ministerial office has spent on (a) tea and coffee, (b) wine, (c) alcoholic refreshments other than wine and (d) bottled water in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: The data requested is not collected at the level of detail requested. Figures taken from the Department's Business Management System categorised as spend on catering or hospitality show that £889.16 was spent in the 12 months between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2012 by the Secretary of State's private office. This compares with £1,187.63 in 2010-11 and £2,393.62 in 2009-10. The figures for 2010-11 and 2011-12 do not include money spent on alcohol, as ministerial private offices are forbidden from spending departmental money on this.

Hospital Beds

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital beds run or owned by North West London NHS Hospital Trust there were at (a) Central Middlesex Hospital, (b) Northwick Park Hospital and (c) other hospitals in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The information is not available in the format requested.
	Bed availability is collected from NHS providers at organisation level. The following table provides data for North West London Hospitals NHS Trust.
	
		
			 Average daily number of available beds, North West London Hospitals NHS Trust 
			 Quarter ended Overnight Day only 
			 December 2011 732 93 
			 September 2011 719 95 
			 June 2011 720 90 
			 March 2011 738 96 
			 December 2010 725 95 
			 September 2010 708 97 
			 June 2010 714 92 
			 Note: NHS providers submit the KH03 return at organisation level and not site level. Source: Department of Health KH03.

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency

Simon Reevell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many discussions the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has had with legal professionals from the European Court of Justice on the Directive on Traditional Herbal Medicines in each of the last six months; and when each such discussion took place;
	(2)  which stakeholders the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has (a) consulted and (b) plans to consult during its revision of the MHRA Guidance Note 8, A guide to what is a medicinal product;
	(3)  what discussions Ministers in his Department have had with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on revisions to MHRA Guidance Note 8, A guide to what is a medicinal product; and when he expects such revisions to be completed.

Simon Burns: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has not had any discussion with legal professionals from the European Court of Justice on the directive on traditional herbal medicinal products. The MHRA is consulting the following industry trade associations over revisions to Guidance Note 8(GN8) ‘A guide to what is a medicinal product’ (GN8): the Advertising Standards Authority Ltd, the Aromatherapy Trades Council, the British Herbal Medicines Association, the British Specialist Nutrition Association, Clearcast Ltd, the Cosmetics, Toiletry and Perfumery Association Ltd, the Council for Responsible Nutrition, the Health Food Manufacturers' Association and the Proprietary Association of Great Britain.
	No ministerial discussions have taken place about GN8.
	MHRA hopes to publish the revised document in summer 2012 but this is dependent on the comments it receives.

Mental Illness: Veterans

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the estimated number is of former soldiers in the community with (a) post-traumatic stress disorder, (b) complex post-traumatic stress disorder and (c) acute stress.

Simon Burns: Data provided by the Academic Centre for Defence Mental Health, King's College London suggests that 4% of armed forces not deployed report symptoms of probable post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and 4% of those deployed report symptoms of probable PTSD (being deployed itself is not associated with PTSD among regulars). This reflects the level of PTSD within the wider population as a whole. Based on current evidence, 7% of those who deploy in a combat role are likely to report symptoms of PTSD at some point post-deployment. Information is not currently available on the number of former armed forces personnel suffering from complex PTSD and/or acute stress.

Sick Leave

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS staff took more than (a) five, (b) 10 and (c) 30 days of sick leave in the latest year for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: This information is not publicly available in the format requested at a national level.
	The resource required to establish, test and run the necessary code to interrogate the data warehouse to obtain these figures would put incur disproportionate cost.
	For further information, the latest quarterly data on sickness absence was published on 19 April and is available at the following link:
	http://www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/workforce/sickness-absence

Thalidomide Trust

David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what discussions he has had with Ministers in the devolved administrations on the payment of grants to the Thalidomide Trust;
	(2)  when he expects to announce his plans for funding to the Thalidomide Trust after April 2013;
	(3)  what assessment his Department has made of the cost-effectiveness of funding it has provided to the Thalidomide Trust since January 2010.

Paul Burstow: Departmental officials have been in regular contact with officials from the Devolved Administrations and will continue to work closely with them on this issue.
	The Thalidomide Grant is a three-year pilot, running from April 2010 until March 2013, to explore how the health needs of Thalidomide survivors can best be met in the longer term and how such a scheme might be applied to other small groups of geographically dispersed patients with specialised needs.
	Officials met with members of the National Advisory Council to the Thalidomide Trust in June 2010, to discuss their evaluation of the first year. The Government expects to receive the evaluation of the second year of the pilot study shortly, and will look to meet with the National Advisory Council to discuss that report. We will consider the future of the grant further into the pilot.

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many trade union representatives in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies had (i) part-time and (ii) full-time paid facility time arrangements in 2011-12.

Simon Burns: The Department and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency grant facility time to a small number of their staff, elected by the union members, who are dedicated ‘full-time’ to trade union duties. These amount to 3.4 whole-time equivalent staff employed as trade union officials in 2011-12. Of these 3.4 whole-time equivalents, 2.8 whole-time equivalents are elected by the Public and Commercial Service Union and the remainder by Prospect. All are ‘full-time’ (ie 100% of their time is dedicated to union duties). A further 1.8 whole-time equivalent staff, also elected by union members, work as the departmental Trade Union Side office.
	Other union officials are covered by the Department's facility time agreement and are not full-time. As the time spent on industrial relations is minimal (less than 5% of their time), their salary costs are met by local directorates. It is not, therefore, possible to make an estimate of the cost of these activities and to collect this information would incur disproportionate cost.
	The response for the Department's non-departmental public bodies is summarised in the following table:
	
		
			 Organisation How many trade uni on representatives had (i) part- time paid facility time arrangements in 2011-12? How many trade uni on representatives had (ii) full- time paid facility time arrangements in 2011-12? 
			 Care Quality Commission 27 1 
			 General Social Care Council 5 0 
		
	
	The Government is soon to start consulting civil service trades unions about current facility time practices.

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many days were utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies in 2011-12; and at what cost to the public purse.

Simon Burns: The Department and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) grant facility time to a small number of their staff, elected by trade union members, whose work time is fully allocated to trade union duties. Information about the number of days used is not held. A total of 5.2 whole time equivalent staff worked as trade union officials in 2011-12. The total cost to the public purse of paid facility time for these staff in the Department and MHRA was £283,120 in 2011-12.
	Other union officials are covered by the Department's facility time agreement and are not full-time. As the time spent on industrial relations is minimal (less than 5% of their work time), their salary costs are met by local directorates. It is not, therefore, possible to make an estimate of the cost of these activities and to collect this information would incur disproportionate cost.
	The response for the Department's non-departmental public bodies is summarised in the following table:
	
		
			 Organisation Total number of days utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative in 2011-12 Cost to the public purse (£) 
			 Care Quality Commission 773.5 112,364 
			 General Social Care Council (1)3 (2)0 
			 (1) Six half-day bi-monthly partnership meetings (2) No additional cost to salary. 
		
	
	The Government is soon to start consulting civil service trades unions about current facility time practices.

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many days were utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies for trade union (i) duties and (ii) activities in 2011-12.

Simon Burns: The Department and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency grant facility time to a small number of elected individuals who are dedicated ‘full-time’ to trade union duties. These are Department of Health staff. 3.4 whole time equivalent staff were employed to work as trade union officials in 2011-12.
	All other trade union representatives are covered by the Department's facility time agreement and are not full-time. Information about the actual number of days used is not held and to collect that information would incur disproportionate cost.
	The facility time agreement provides for up to 15 days paid time for accredited representatives and up to a further 10 days for those elected to or accredited by national union bodies such as Group and National Executive Committees.
	The Government is soon to start consulting civil service trades unions about current facility time practices.
	The responses from the Department's non-departmental public bodies are summarised in the following table:
	
		
			 Organisation How many days were utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative for trade union duties in 2011-12? How many days were utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative for trade union activities in 2011-12? 
			 Care Quality Commission (1)773.5 
			 General Social Care Council (2)3 3 
			 (1) Our records do not differentiate between facility time days for TU duties and TU activities. This includes one full-time individual. (2) Six half-day bi-monthly partnership meetings.

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions trade union representatives from (a) his Department and (b) each of the non-departmental public bodies have utilised paid facility time to represent an employee at a meeting or other industrial relations matter in each of the last five years.

Simon Burns: For the Department and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency the information requested about the representation of employees by trade union representatives is not held. To establish that information would incur disproportionate cost.
	Only two of the Department's non-departmental public bodies have had trade union representatives utilise paid facility time to represent an employee at a meeting or other industrial relations matter in each of the last five years. These are shown in the following tables:
	
		
			 Care Quality Commission (CQC) 
			 Year How many occasions have trade union representatives utilised paid facility time to represent an employee at a meeting or other industrial relations matters for each of the following years ? 
			 2007-08 CQC started 1 April 2009—no data available for predecessor organisations 
			 2008-09 CQC started 1 April 2009—no data available for predecessor organisations 
		
	
	
		
			 2009-10 This information was not captured centrally 
			 2010-11 This information was not captured centrally 
			 2011-12 11 
			 Note: The figure supplied for 2011-12 refers specifically to formal meetings with trade union representation. 
		
	
	
		
			 General Social Care Council 
			 Year How many occasions have trade union representatives utilised paid facility time to represent an employee at a meeting or other industrial relations matters for each of the following years? 
			 2007-08 0 
			 2008-09 0 
			 2009-10 0 
			 2010-11 1 
			 2011-12 0 
		
	
	The Government is soon to start consulting Civil Service trades unions about current facility time practices.